Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Big Event!

I was on vacation last week. My kids had their Spring Break and we went to Atlanta, Georgia for a few days. Towards the end of our vacation my son and I were in the hotel room one night and turned to television on just in time to see all of the hoopla surrounding the big event. There were people from everywhere at the big event. People were decked out in their finest outfits. Women in fancy dresses and fashionable hats and men in their finest suits. Cameras and reporters were everywhere. Yes we were watching the NFL draft! What did you think we were watching, a wedding or something?!

As we watched the draft we heard the commentators talk about how talented the athletes were. They mentioned their size, their speed, their total package that they could bring to the team that chose them. This is how it sounded for those of you who didn't watch.

"Wow, (insert player's name here) really had a stellar season last year. He is 6' 5" weighing 325lbs.With a little NFL coaching he will be a perfect (name the position) for team X. Let's take a look at some highlight film. (They then flash to some of his greatest plays during his college career. Showing him run, bock or tackle). Team X really could benefit from a player of his caliber!"

And on and on it would go. Player after player, team after team. Once a team selected a player they player would don a team baseball cap and hold up a team jersey while flashbulbs lit up the room. As I sat there and watched I thought that if they puff this guy up any more his head will be so big he will not be able to get the ball cap on!

Sitting there watching I could not hep but think of how different things are when God chooses men and women to be on His team so to speak. If we looked back at the men and women He chose we would notice just how weak, fallible and unqualified they were to do what he has called them to do. Take a look at one of the earliest examples. In Exodus God chooses Moses to meet with Pharaoh to demand that he set His people free. Here is how Moses reacts:

Exodus 4: 10 Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

Apparently Moses had a speech impediment. He may have had some type of stage fright or a tremendous fear of public speaking. Or he may have just been afraid that Pharaoh would simply have him killed for saying such a thing. Never-the-less, God ended up using this man to do a mighty work and God's chosen people were set free. One more example from the New Testament. James and John were preaching the Gospel in the Synagog with amazing results, the new Believers grew to more that 5000! But listen to how James and John are described:

Acts 4: 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Unschooled, ordinary men! The Greek for unschooled is agrammatos which means illiterate and ordinary is idiōtēs which means one who is unskilled in any art. It appears as though these guys had nothing to offer from a human stand point. However, God chose them for His team and he used them in a mighty way, just read the rest of the book of Acts!

So why does God do this, why does He choose "players" like this? Why does he choose the underdogs instead of the superstars? Take a look as to why He does this:

I Corinthians 1: 26-31 - 26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

He does this so that He gets the glory that He deserves. We should be encouraged that the God of all creation has chosen to use the "rejects" by the world's standards to accomplish His plans. He chooses those of us who would probably be the last to get picked in a game of pick-up basketball or football in the park to accomplish His purpose.

My question for you and me is if we are on the greatest team of all time, are we playing? Are we doing what God chose us to do? Or are we still sitting on the bench saying "Woe is me, I have nothing to offer!" Get off the bench and start playing. The game will be over soon!